ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610070160
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
DATELINE: CONCORD, N. C.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
Mark Martin won Saturday's All Pro Bumper To Bumper 300, a race marred by an accident in which David Green was knocked unconscious and lost his Busch Grand National Series points lead to Randy LaJoie.
Green regained consciousness before being airlifted to a Charlotte hospital. He appeared to have only a concussion but was kept overnight for observation.
Meanwhile, LaJoie, who came into the race trailing Green by 57 points, finished sixth and took a 50-point lead with two races remaining.
Green, the 1994 series champion, had led the points race since the third event of the season, a total of 21 races.
``We've been chasing him all year,'' LaJoie said. ``Today, he had some bad luck and we didn't. I hope he's OK He'll be back for Rockingham [Oct.19].''
The crash took place on lap 64 of the 200-lap event when Green collided with the spinning car of Darrell Lanigan, then broadsided another spinning car driven by Shane Hall. Hall was taken by ambulance to a Concord hospital for precautionary X-rays of the left lower leg.
Martin, a regular on the Winston Cup circuit and only a part-time performer in the BGN series, posted his fifth win in 12 starts this season and the 25th of his Busch Series career.
It also was his fourth win on the 11/2-mile oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and his third in a row, matching the record set in 1988 and 1989 by the late Rob Moroso.
Martin, who has not won a Winston Cup race since the fall event here last year, said, ``We won both races last year. That would be a lot to ask for, but I feel like asking for it right now. I could stand and the Valvoline [Winston Cup] team could stand a boost.''
Martin averaged 124.957 mph in a race slowed by seven caution flags for a total of 43 laps. He won $54,250 after leading five times for 127 laps, including the final 65.
Winston Cup regulars dominated the Busch Series race, with Bobby Labonte finishing second, followed by Sterling Marlin. Terry Labonte passed his brother for second place on lap 193, but ran out of gas on lap 198, as did Ricky Craven, who had been running sixth.
In other auto racing news:
SAGA CONTINUES: The saga of Robby Gordon's Winston Cup weekend took another strange turn Saturday when he agreed to run Joe Nemechek's car after all in today's UAW-GM 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The flip-flop occurred after Dale Earnhardt, whose wife owns the car Gordon will be driving, objected to the plan of Nemechek driving after Thursday's practice.
Gordon got back into the car for the Saturday morning practice session and made the decision to drive today. Then he hustled to a jet for a flight to Nevada for a three-hour, off-road race Saturday afternoon.
``I probably backed away from it a little too quick,'' Gordon said. ``I wasn't comfortable in it. My knees were hitting the steering wheel and I was very cramped up in it. We took the seat out of Earnhardt's car and put it in Nemechek's car. I'm more comfortable in it now.
``I wasn't going to drive the car. I walked away from the program. Dale called me and said maybe I was doing it a little too quick. Give it a fair shot.''
Felix Sabates, who will be Gordon's car owner next year, put a different spin on it, suggesting that he was the one who asked for Gordon to get out of the car.
``He wasn't happy about getting out of the car,'' Sabates said. ``I told him I wanted him to get out, and he said, 'OK, you're the boss.' Then Earnhardt called him at home and told him I was a wimp.''
But the real problem was that no one checked with Earnhardt before making the decision to substitute Nemechek for Gordon.
``He didn't know about it,'' Sabates said. ``To tell you the truth, I forgot he owned the car. I thought I owned the car.''
EARNHARDT CRASHES: The Gordon/Nemechek saga, it turned out, was one of Earnhardt's lesser problems of the day.
Earnhardt was speeding into turn three above Morgan Shepherd when he moved down in the groove, collided with Shepherd, spun, and hit the turn four wall on the left front and left rear.
``I wrecked,'' he said. ``I went into the corner and Morgan was on the inside of me. I thought he wasn't up to speed, but he went in there with me.''
He'll start from the back of the pack today in a backup car.
``Things have been happening all week long,'' he said. ``The Busch car [driven by Jeff Green] wrecked yesterday.''
But that wasn't the end of it. In the All Pro 300, Steve Park trashed another Earnhardt car in a wreck in turn two.
``I tell you what, this has been a [expletive] weekend,'' he said, walking to his car for the final Winston Cup practice. ``Two of 'em are trashed. This has not been a good weekend for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.''
Ernie Irvan was the other major crash victim Saturday in Winston Cup, hitting the turn four wall just moments before the final practice was supposed to end. Irvan reportedly cut a tire. He'll have to go to a backup car and also will start from the rear of the field.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 linesby CNB